Bradfield, Norfolk (†Norwich) C.15

Doom

Christ sits on a rainbow, a symbol of God’s promise in Genesis 9:13. The detail is so commonly found as to be normal – Christ seldom sits on a throne. The wounds in his hands, the left in particular, still show fairly well, but no other ‘judgement’ details exist These would probably have been below, at the sides of the chancel arch wall, where there is ample space (now replastered, like the rest of the walls) for the dead rising, the blessed proceeding into heaven and the damned into hell, and so on. What does remain, although very faintly, is fragmentary detail of two angels on either side of the judging Christ Their large unfurled wings, particularly on the right, are just visible, and both may originally have held Instruments of the Passion. The painting is 15th century, and this graphic depiction of Christ displaying the Wounds of the Crucifixion preparatory to the moment of Judgement is typical of its date.